<p>EMMYBET - where is that thread " colleges for A thread"? </p>
<p>I did find Hillel House Tour Reports thread 
this morning</p>
<p>@mom4989: also, Colgate and UMich</p>
<p>“WashU and vandy are very much for A/A- students, increasingly for A+/A students.”…and even that is a “reach” given the % accepted…</p>
<p>re: looking at other people’s Naviance charts: be careful; GPA’s from one school to the next are totally unrelated…just looking at what LINY posted, for example, it looks like only an A-/B+ student would be accepted to any of those listed; just doesn’t look like that from perspective here…one totally has to look at context from their own school, including rank, rigor, etc…</p>
<p>and then there’s the geographic diversity mentioned…and you can’t forget demographics…</p>
<p>We had a conversation with the Elon NJ rep a couple of weeks ago; she mentioned that females from NY/NJ/Mass right now as well as NC are a tough admit for both EA and RD…just so many good applicants…as an example…</p>
<p>cherryhillmom: I think the Colleges for “A” Jewish students thread was started by a poster cooper11 whose son happens to have been accepted ED at Colgate…maybe you can find it that way</p>
<p>Welcome to all new posters! Wow, haven’t been here for a few days and this thread has been on fire!</p>
<p>socaldad- Towson sounds like it might be a great fit for your D. It is rising in popularity/stature. Maryland is not like a lot of other states when it comes to state schools. We don’t have as many. Certainly, not many large ones. Once you get past UMDCP, it seems that Towson is the next choice for many. With the economy the way it is, and tuition prices the way they are, I think a lot of MD, NJ, NY students who didn’t get into CP are chosing Towson. Those students who didn’t get into College Park are still good students, just with so many more applications to pick from, it has made CP that much harder to get into.</p>
<p>Delaware sounds like it would be a reach for her, but she should get a boost as OOS. Gorgeous campus. Everyone I know who has gone there has loved it. D really liked it when we visited and it remains on her list.</p>
<p>Mom4989 - GW sounds like it would be a great fit for her if she is into Politcal Science and wants an urban location with lots of Jewish Students. Politics is huge there, the location is great and there is a large Hillel. Kosher for Passover food will be available.</p>
<p>My turn for a question. D finally put her list together of schools that she may want to go look at over spring break. They are all over the place (I knew that they would be). I will disclose that D is an A- student, with fairly high SAT scores (hopefully higher after Saturday!). She will also take the ACT in February. Anyway, in trying to narrow down the list, I wanted to visit some of the schools that she wants to see, but I thought I would use as a filter schools that consider demonstrated interest. For example Wash U cares about demonstrated interest, so we will visit them. Her list is a lot longer, but we have already visited some, and some we may not look at until after applications are done.</p>
<p>Here is the list: Opinions please!</p>
<p>Washington University
University of Michigan
Miami University of Ohio
University of Denver
University of Alabama
Northeastern University
University of Miami</p>
<p>So do any of these besides Wash U. care about demonstrated interest?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>mdmom:
Def not Univ of Michigan or Miami of Ohio, Alabama</p>
<p>Univ of Denver has the Hyde Interview process; daughter did her interview right before being admitted ED to Elon; during the interview they asked her about her visit to the school? we didn’t visit (it wasn’t high on her list due to the trimester system) but your daughter’s stats are MUCH higher; I don’t think she’d need a visit, but the interview process is almost a necessity apparently…</p>
<p>No idea about Northeastern or Miami…and I think an A- student is pretty safe at both, (but keep in mind that NEU prefers a major stated on their app rather than undecided)</p>
<p>…and another note: Wash U and their demonstrated interest…lol…they say one thing and do another, seriously…I would def visit but don’t delude yourself into thinking it really matters…have seen too many cases of kids being accepted RD who had NO contact with the school and others deferred who visited multiple times, with higher stats, and applied ED…so much for demonstrated interest</p>
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<p>I found that thread, for anyone who is interested in reviving it:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1023886-college-jewish-student.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1023886-college-jewish-student.html</a></p>
<p>It’s gotten pretty far back on the Parents’ Forum, maybe around page 8 or 9.</p>
<p>I’m not fussy about GPAs, but having spent a couple of years on the 3.X student threads, I think it’s really important that we don’t leave the needs of those kids behind. Finding schools for B students is very difficult, and if we start talking here about too many kids who are looking at Wash U and other high-stat schools, we’re going to lose sight of the original purpose of this thread. I know no one has bad intentions; it’s just the way these CC discussions often go, and why threads like this are important.</p>
<p>I just want to say that while my D may not be a B student, most of the schools on her list are B student schools. I am not trying to take anything away from the intent of this thread, on the other hand, I have gained so much from this thread. Yes, there may be schools on her list that don’t apply to others, but those are her reach schools. Other than that, all the rest of the schools have been mentioned on this thread. If it wasn’t for this thread, University of Denver would have never made her list. As well as a few other schools.</p>
<p>Mdmom: I don’t think that Northeastern weighs demonstrated interest. My daughter got in without visiting, despite having a summer course at BU on her resume. I was a little worried that they would wonder why she didn’t bother to visit while in Boston. I’m actually a little sorry that we didn’t visit when we were in Boston because they were generous with merit money. I’m sure that it also won’t matter with Michigan or Alabama.</p>
<p>Your daughter has a really varied list. What are her criteria?</p>
<p>momjr - Her main criteria is to get out of Maryland! LOL! Other than that, nice campus, stuff to do in the area around campus. Doesn’t want a real urban feel to the campus, so not sure about Northeastern. Does want a decent Jewish presence. However, will consider Alabama because she should get some decent merit money and therefore achieve her goal of getting out of Maryland. Plus she does have a specific program that she is looking for, so the colleges were all narrowed down by that criteria first. Then we looked at all the rest. </p>
<p>She hasn’t looked at any really large schools yet, neither she or I thinks that is the right fit for her, but we will look at some anyway, just to make sure.</p>
<p>I am the parent of a college student, and Hillel Director at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC.) I just learned about this forum and wanted to put in my 2 cents worth. I think the discussion is less “A” vs “B” students than students that thrive at/prefer large schools to small. Some very high functioning kids like small colleges, and they tend to have less options for Jewish life because the population is more limited. Pretty much any campus with a large Jewish student population and a campus Hillel will provide a wealth of wonderful opportunities for Jewish students. At UIC we have students from all Jewish backgrounds and a very vibrant Jewish community. These include “A” and “B” students. My own daughter, who clearly needed and wanted a smaller setting, is at Beloit College. I was saddened by this trade off–no question she would have had more Jewish opportunities, and a larger Jewish social network at a larger school… Still, because she was interested she has been a leader of the Jewish student group at Beloit, participated in Birthright Israel, etc.</p>
<p>uichillel: So glad you joined our discussion! It’s great to have a Hillel director here! As far as the A vs B student - it’s about colleges with a Jewish community that will accept our DD or DS! My DD would have LOVED to go to Brandeis (small) or Maryland (large) – the Jewishness worked for her but she did not have the grades and test scores to get in. So, yes, we are all trying to find the right fit for our kids (size, location, vibe, etc, plays into that) - and that all differs - but the one commonality we are looking for is a Jewish presence. Even then, we all have different desires about “how Jewish.” University of Delaware is great for my DD (in terms of Jewish opportunities), but UD does not have kosher dining available so wouldn’t be good for others. Looking forward to your participation here!</p>
<p>mdmomfromli: My DD’s one objective was to get out of NY! She would have loved to go to UMDCP! (but got deferred) BTW - What program is your DD looking for? (You must have posted it; I forget…)</p>
<p>mom4989, it’s further away but look at the University of Rochester. They have an excellent political science program with a unique internship opportunity at the British Parliament. A significant Jewish community, but the food options may be kind of ehhhh. </p>
<p>mdmomfromli, you can search on each school’s Common Data Set (CDS) to see what they put for the Demonstrated Interest column. Like you, that’s what I used to help make the first cut of schools to visit for D1–well, that along with looking at safety schools. </p>
<p>The “Colleges for Jewish A Students” never really took off. In some ways it’s redundant, as many of the schools for A students have large-ish Jewish communities already. Some poster long ago lamented “well, where do the “B” Jewish students go?” and voila, a thread was born. It’s worth searching on threads with the word “Jewish” in the title to see some of the older “Jewish A student” type threads.</p>
<p>I’ve probably mentioned this at some point upthread, but I’ll mention it again for newer posters: Brandeis looked like a perfect fit for my D1, who wanted a school with smart students, Jewish community, not looking for parties or a dominant Greek system, and a good political science program. So I made sure to put Brandeis on the tour itinerary.</p>
<p>She hated it. Go figure!</p>
<p>I think it’s a wonderful school, and I’m still not sure why she so disliked it. I just offer this up as a cautionary tale that what looks like a match made in heaven…might not be. :)</p>
<p>SlitheyTove, I was just going to post the suggestion about colleges’ Common Data Sets (CDS) -it’s the best way to ascertain the importance of many factors. GMTA</p>
<p>In contrast to your D’s experience, my D fell in love with Brandeis when she visited, applied ED, and couldn’t be happier, mid-way through her sophomore year. Frankly, it wasn’t my favorite school of those on her list, but it’s really wasn’t all about me, was it? ;)</p>
<p>:) OK, I won’t say anything more to “yinz”. Except that the father of the Terrible Towel was Jewish. And any Packers fan who wants to make a charity bet with me - let me know.</p>
<p>Welcome to even more new posters and thanks for your input! I learn and get inspired a lot from this thread. For example, Socal introduced the idea that Kansas has Jewish students and that they live in a private dorm - thanks for that info!</p>
<p>mom4989 - maybe I know you. I’ll PM you because I have been inspired by this thread to help the eleventh graders and their parents with “parent to parent brainstorming”.</p>
<p>This thread has also inspired me to: correct people who utter ethnic slurs, sometimes unwittingly (had to do it the other day), bake Hamentaschen for members of the armed services (our sisterhood may do this now as an activity), and keep giving my kids the message about identity.</p>
<p>
LOL 
I posted something about the “Stillers” on my FB last night and someone thought I was talking about Ben Stiller’s family!</p>
<p>Sorry. Back to our regular programming…</p>
<p>I just tried something - I went to the Hillel site and did a search on “kosher” and a lot of colleges came up that have kosher options. You can click on each college link to see more details.
However, this is not perfect because the little blurb under my daughter’s college (JHU) says “religious services - not available”. Of course, I know that they are available. I clicked the link and saw “not available” under the list, but at the bottom, saw that Orthodox, Conservative and Reform services are “available”. So, this could be useful but use carefully.
[url=<a href=“http://www.hillel.org/about/localhillels/search/default.htm?jlocsearch=kosher%20kitchen]Search[/url”>http://www.hillel.org/about/localhillels/search/default.htm?jlocsearch=kosher%20kitchen]Search[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Hey Slitheytove! :)</p>
<p>I agree about mom4989 looking into Univ. of Rochester. My S liked it a lot and it’s a quiet campus with not much greek life and a large amount of Jewish kids. mom4989: After the college tour and info. session, we made an app. to talk to a professor in the dept. my S is interested in and we chatted with him for almost an hour. I would highly recommend that.</p>
<p>ST: My S had the same reaction to Brandeis. We all wanted to like it. On paper, it sounded great! Even though it’s an outstanding school, my S also thought it wasn’t for him. Glad to hear PRJ’s D is enjoying her experience there.</p>
<p>Welcome to all our new posters! :)</p>
<p>I don’t wish to be redundant, but I am going to just the same. This is a great thread. So many well meaning informed parents here. it is a pleasure to ask, receive, and share. Thank you all for allowing me to learn from you. I will now check this thread daily for your insights.
I have nothing new to share, just wanted to say thank you to all.</p>
<p>I totally understand the need for this thread for the Jewish B student. However, that A student thread really didn’t go anywhere. This thread is so much better :)</p>
<p>Even though my DS is my A student, I hope you don’t mind if I continue to hang out here and ask a question on occasion about a school that is more of a reach for a B student. </p>
<p>I like participating here. Feels you are “my peeps.”</p>
<p>socaldad42 - might be time for you to subscribe to this thread 
(upper right corner under Thread Tools)</p>
<p>and yes, LINYMOM, I too feel like you all are my “peeps”. it can get lonely somedays in small town, Ohio. I just realized this thread started post-Passover. just imagine the recipe sharing possibilities!!</p>